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NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

The NBA allstar game will have to move to March evidently. I realize the NFL is popular enough to do whatever they want - but do they have to be such a bully. Should be interesting to see if the NBA trade deadline is moved back also - as the NBA usually gets a day or two of media attention then.

The NFL is looking to move their season back a few more weeks - it is already about 2 weeks later than it was just about 10 years ago, and now they are looking at moving back another 2 or three weeks so the Superbowl is mid to late February - which will mean the NBA Allstar game will have to be in early March - as it has to be at least two weeks after the SB because of the NFL Pro bowl. (unless the NBA moves it to a midweek thing) The NBA allstar game used to be the midpoint of the season.

Really though I don't care that much about the allstar game, but it just seems like the NFL more and more every year dominates the media later and later, cutting into the NBA coverage. The draft dwarfs the NBA playoffs for an entire weekend.

DANA POINT, Calif. — Talk about the Super Bowl as a national holiday.
How about as a lead-in to Presidents Day?

The prospect of extending the NFL's calendar and staging the league's signature event in the latter half of February is gaining momentum as team owners contemplate an expanded schedule with a typical end-game mission: More money.

NFL teams have played a 16-game regular-season schedule (with four preseason games) since 1978, but owners have their sights on either a 17- or 18-game regular season and a shorter preseason that could be implemented as early as 2011.

The additional games would be tacked on to the back end of the current calendar, which owners feel would create added value for their network TV contracts because like the Super Bowl, the conference title games would be played in February — a sweeps month that TV networks use to set advertising rates.

"If we're going to keep labor peace, we've got to grow and expand," said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, chairman of the league's broadcasting committee. Including the preseason, "we're going to play these games, anyway. How do we make them as meaningful as possible?"

At the moment, an expanded schedule is in the debate and analysis stage. It's possible league owners will vote on proposals at their next meetings in May. After that, it would likely become a key component in talks with the players union for a new labor deal. The league's existing collective bargaining agreement ends after the 2010 season. There's also the matter of defining the value of more games, as part of network TV contracts.

"It's dependent, by a large part," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said, "on our relationship with our partners and the players."

Still, many owners seem to agree that the status quo of a 16-game regular season won't cut it.

Tweaking the schedule by altering the ratio of regular-season games and preseason games by just one game might cause a major adjustment in team operations.

"I'm in favor of it, but there are so many details to sort out," said Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

A longer regular-season schedule would undoubtedly add value for fans who have grumbled about paying regular-season prices for preseason games as part of season-ticket plans. But an alteration might also increase injury risk for frontline players who might play sparingly during the preseason, but endure more wear-and-tear with an extra regular-season game.

Also, while owners have resisted increases to the 53-man roster, an expanded schedule could increase roster sizes in addition to bolstering the number of developmental players on practice squads.

"It might create 100 new jobs," Kraft said, pondering the notion of expanding the practice squads from six to eight or 10 players, but not necessarily the 53-man roster. "That will all be part of the discussion. This is part of our labor discussion."

Other attached issues:

•Imbalanced schedules. With a 17-game season, half of the league's teams would have nine home games, while the other half would have eight. That could wreak havoc on the competitive balance that has been a staple to help fuel playoff races.

•An expanded playoff field. To make the games at the end of the regular-season meaningful, the league would likely consider increasing the field of playoff qualifiers from 12 teams to 14.

"The biggest concern is that I've liked the way we've had the playoffs as a really elite thing to get in," said Irsay. "There are 32 teams, and only 12 get in, unlike the NBA and some other leagues where a lot of people get in. It will probably be hard to keep it that way when you're talking about more games at the end of the season. Do you want those games to mean something that you're adding at the end of the year?"

Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairmen of the rule-making competition committee, didn't have to make concrete recommendations about an expanded schedule this time around.

But they know it's coming. After briefing the media Monday on rulebook changes for the coming season, Fisher was asked about the possibility of playing a 17- or 18-game season. He said he wondered how an altered schedule would affect how he uses players in preseason and training camp, not to mention designs for the entire offseason routine. McKay, meanwhile, figures there could be a need to address rules for injured reserve.

In recent years, the committee has studied formulas for re-seeding the playoffs. Soon, they will likely grapple with the notion of an expanded playoff field — rejected in the past by owners — as part of an expanded schedule.

"All of those issues will have to be discussed," McKay said. "When we went down that path before, there were a lot of traditionalists who didn't want to go from 12 to 14 (playoff teams). But that was with a 16-game schedule. It will be interesting to see where it goes."

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

If the NBA wants to get what they want, they should focus on putting a better more popular product out. Right now, only the hardcore fans are watching, and even some of them are bailing. If they put up a show that more people cared about, they could increase their clout and dictate schedules too.

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

If the NBA wants to get what they want, they should focus on putting a better more popular product out. Right now, only the hardcore fans are watching, and even some of them are bailing. If they put up a show that more people cared about, they could increase their clout and dictate schedules too.

NBA TV ratings have gone up this season across the board on ESPN, ABC and TNT - so I don't know where you are coming up with your info.

Unrelated note - the NBA is kind enough to never schedule any games on the NCAA finals night

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

NBA TV ratings have gone up this season across the board on ESPN, ABC and TNT - so I don't know where you are coming up with your info.

Yeah and it still doesn't matter the NBA is an afterthought compared to the NFL. The NFL people talk about all year round. Why do you think NFL Live is on all year but NBA Fastbreak and Baseball Live are only on during their respective seasons?

NFL puts out a great product(most of the time)

The NBA hasn't surpassed the NFL since Jordan was playing. Why do you think Stern is so desperate to try and recreate that with LeBron?

•Imbalanced schedules. With a 17-game season, half of the league's teams would have nine home games, while the other half would have eight. That could wreak havoc on the competitive balance that has been a staple to help fuel playoff races.

Of course they count the game in Europe as a "home game" for one team so I suppose they won't care about this either.

Sunday afternoon's Lakers-Cavaliers matchup on ABC earned a 3.8 final Nielsen rating (6.1 million viewers), up 46.2% from a 2.6 rating for Lakers-Heat in the same time slot last year. Excluding Christmas Day games, Lakers-Cavaliers proved to be ABC's highest-rated and most-viewed regular-season game since the net reacquired NBA rights in '02. Also on Sunday, the NFL Pro Bowl on NBC earned a 5.4 final Nielsen rating (8.8 million viewers) from 4:30-8:00pm ET, down 14.3% from a 6.3 rating for the game last year on Fox (THE DAILY). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes Sunday's Lakers-Cavaliers game "had everything going for it: ABC's marquee late-afternoon time slot and two of the game's biggest one-name players -- LeBron and Kobe." Hiestand notes the rating "didn't come very close" to matching NBC's rating for coverage of the Pro Bowl. Hiestand: "That suggests that the NFL, with its plan to move the Pro Bowl to the weekend before the Super Bowl next year rather than the anticlimactic week after, should assist this TV sports anomaly in continuing to be a meaningless exhibition that draws big-time ratings" (USA TODAY, 2/10).

In other words even though the Pro Bowl ratings were down it still did better than Kobe and LeBron.

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

One correction, The NFL Pro Bowl is being moved to the weekend BEFORE the Super Bowl, at least next year on a trial basis, at the site of the Super Bowl. So the week after the Super Bowl might be free if the new date for the pro bowl works out.

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

I think a later All-Star game and break is a good idea for several reasons:

1) The players might have actually played well (or played at all) THAT YEAR, instead of getting voted in by previous years' performance.
2) The break comes later in the season, so playoff teams will get the rest they always complain about a little closer to the playoffs.
3) It brings a bigger media push AFTER football is all over, in a way anouncing to casual fans that there is still a major sport going on.
4) Possibly bigger ratings.

I like this very much, actually.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

“If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

One correction, The NFL Pro Bowl is being moved to the weekend BEFORE the Super Bowl, at least next year on a trial basis, at the site of the Super Bowl. So the week after the Super Bowl might be free if the new date for the pro bowl works out.

I hadn't heard that. What an awful idea.

It seriously interferes with the schedules and priorities of players who are in both.

WOW - I'm dumbfounded.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

“If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” - Catherine Aird

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

Unrelated note - the NBA is kind enough to never schedule any games on the NCAA finals night

That has nothing to do with the NBA's "kindness" and everything to do with the fact that they would get killed if they tried to go up against that event. I looked at the ratings, and yes they are up, but barely, and a FAR cry from the numbers the NFL generated or even the numbers the NBA itself generated 10 years ago. The trend is nice, but the mountain is a big one.

[edit]Sorry, didn't see that my point got made for me by several posters. [/edit]

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

The move is because the pro bowl gets terrible ratings and it's a letdown after the Super Bowl. Having it the week before makes it part of the Super Bowl hype and gets people to come to the city early and have the week-long party atmosphere that they want. The pre-Super Bowl weekend is always a big bore.

Of course the players from the Super Bowl teams won't be there. The players may not like it, not getting the trip to Hawaii, but it will be in the reach of more fans to get there.

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

Yeah and it still doesn't matter the NBA is an afterthought compared to the NFL. The NFL people talk about all year round. Why do you think NFL Live is on all year but NBA Fastbreak and Baseball Live are only on during their respective seasons?

NFL puts out a great product(most of the time)

The NBA hasn't surpassed the NFL since Jordan was playing. Why do you think Stern is so desperate to try and recreate that with LeBron?

First of all you must not have read my first post in this thread. And no the NBA has never ever been anywhere nearly as popular as the NFL even in the Jordan era.

You are missing my point - I am not nor ever will be arguing that the NBA is as popular as the NFL

Re: NBA is getting pushed around by the NFL again

Is this a tongue in cheek statement? If the NBA doesn't go up against the NCAA Finals it is because they would be killed and don't want to suffer the defeat, not anything to do with them being nice.

Methinks you weren't serious and were just trying to stir some people up... But then again you could be

Little bit of both, little bit of both.

Although, the NBA does go against the final four and attendance is fine. Monday night isn't a TV night for the NBA (except for NBATV) fact is the NCAA isn't that popular in a lot of the bigger cities so I don't think having NBA games in LA, Houston, Dallas, Altanta, NY....would hurt attendance on that Monday night. I've heard David Stern discuss this that they have always decided to not have any games played that night.

Of course it would be stupid for ESPN or TNT to have games that night - but locally it wouldn't be a big deal. Locally - I don't mean Indianapolis - I mean in several of the bigger cities. Indianapolis is always one of the top 4 or 5 NCAA ratings even if a big ten team isn't in it. Not uncommon to get a 20 rating in Indy and a 2 rating in LA or San Fran